Stream on Demand: Kimmy Schmidt back on Netflix; ‘Thunderbirds’ go to Amazon
What’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services.
Amazon Prime Video
“Thunderbirds are Go!: Season 1” revives the classic British kids show about an all-American team of brothers who execute daring rescues with high-tech vehicles. The original show became a cult favorite for its “Supermarionation” puppets and detailed miniatures. The reboot combines computer animation with old fashioned model work and keeps the earnest tone, which means bland characters, delightful special effects and kitschy fun. Twelve episodes.
Before “The Road Warrior” and “Fury Road” was the grungy, high-octane action thriller “Mad Max” (1979) starring a baby-faced Mel Gibson as a revved-up cop out for revenge in a crumbling world. R.
More new movies: “Maggie” (2015), a melancholy zombie drama with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the helpless father of a dying girl (Abigail Breslin) (R), and “The Whistleblower” (2010) with Rachel Weisz fighting sex trafficking in Bosnia (R). Both also on Hulu.
Netflix
Netflix is all about the series this week, starting with the second season of its original sitcom “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” starring Ellie Kemper as an unflaggingly optimistic innocent in a skewed New York City. The first season was nominated for seven Emmy Awards. Thirteen new episodes now available.
More new TV: “TURN: Washington’s Spies: Season 2,” an espionage tale set during the Revolutionary War, and the British sitcom “Cuckoo: Season 3.”
For kids there’s the animated “Kong – King of the Apes: Season 1” and the Disney Channel comedy “Girl Meets World: Season 2.”
New movies: “Look Who’s Back” (2015), a German comedy that drops Adolph Hitler into modern day Berlin, (not rated, with subtitles), and the documentary “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine” (2015).
Hulu
New episodes of Mindy Kaling’s “The Mindy Project” arrive every Tuesday.
HBO Now
“Inherent Vice” (2014), adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel, is a screwy mystery starring Joaquin Phoenix as a joint-smoking private eye in 1970s Los Angeles. R.
Scarlett Johansson becomes a telekinetic superhero in “Lucy” (2014). R.
Pay-per-view / Video on Demand
Two horror films with Japanese ties: “The Forest” stars Natalie Dormer (“Game of Thrones”) searching for her twin sister in Japan’s notorious “suicide forest,” and “Flight 7500,” a haunted airplane tale, is from Japanese horror specialist Takashi Shimizu (“The Grudge”). Both rated PG-13.
Available same day as select theaters nationwide is “The Adderall Diaries,” based on the memoir by author Stephen Elliot and starring James Franco (R); the thriller “Colonia” with Emma Watson and Daniel Bruhl escaping a religious cult in Chile (not rated); and the drama “Sky” starring Diane Kruger (not rated).
On disc
On DVD: “The Forest,” “Heroes Reborn,” “Grace and Frankie: Season One”
At Redbox: “The Forest,” “Brooklyn,” “Sisters,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” “Tumbledown”
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and TV can be found at http://streamondemandathome.com.